Puri: Chariots of holy trinity reach Gundicha temple

Warren Dawson | June 29, 2017, 1:08

Puri: Chariots of holy trinity reach Gundicha temple

Three well decorated chariots of Triads - Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra - were tugged along the Grand Road with lakhs of devotees participating in the annual Rath Yatra with chanting of "Jai Jagannath" rent the air.

The Shankaracharya of Puri Govardhana peeth Swami Nischalananda Saraswati had a darshan of the deities on the chariots along with his disciples.

Thousands of devotees congregated yesterday in Baripada town to witness "pahandi" of the deities who were brought onto the chariots from the temple yesterday.

To thwart any untoward incident during the rath yatra, over 20,000 police and paramilitary personnel as well as NSG commandos have been deployed along the route. Devotees in the East Singari Radhamadhav temple took out the chariot of Lord Jagannath in a grand fashion.

Ratha Yatra (chariot festival) marks the annual journey of the three deities from the 12th century Jagannath temple in the chariots to the temple of Devi Gundicha, their aunt. The Taladhwaja Rath of Lord Balabhadra was pulled first followed by two others. Thereafter, Gajapati King Dibyasingh Dev came riding famous Mehna (palanquin) from his palace and performed the Chhera Pahnra (sweeping around the decks of three Raths) which began at about 2.50 pm and was over by 3.25 pm.

Facility of e-auto rickshaws has also been made from Talabania to carry pilgrims to Medical Square where the facility is free for Divyanga pilgrims. A large number of cameras were installed across the city with an integrated surveillance control room near the Jagannath Temple as a special step.